There have been a series of podcasts looking into the shady world of sport over the past three years.

Under the banner ‘Sports Strangest Crimes’, the BBC Sounds series has looked at the story of missing racehorse Shergar, oddly narrated by 90s rapper Vanilla Ice, convicted fraudster Allen Standford’s role in cricket, a conman’s role in almost bringing down the world’s oldest football league club Notts County, the spying controversy in F1 and Mafia involvement in cycling.

The latest is about an American wrestler from the 70s and 80s who was big in Japan.

It all sounds a bit niche but ‘The Ballad of Bruiser Brody’ is a fascinating listen. This series is narrated by Last Leg host and Australian comedian Adam Hills who is also a wrestling fan

However, I am no wrestling fan and barely know any of the stars around even today, never mind some 40 years ago.

But this is more about the man behind Bruiser Brody – Frank Goodish – and what drove him towards the top of wrestling after failing to make it as an American Footballer despite having bags of talent. And what ultimately led to his dramatic and violent downfall.

Frank was a larger than life character, in every sense of the word. Reputed to stand at 6ft 8 inches tall and weighing in at more than 300lbs, with long, unkempt black hair and bushy beard, he became the bad boy of wrestling.

Despite his persona, outside of the ring he was also a family man and loyal friend according to those who knew him.

But, it was not just his life that was colourful, contradictory and controversial, his death was perhaps an even bigger talking point.

Bruiser became embroiled in a violent feud, which may have ultimately led to his death. The decision to give no mercy to a smaller wrestler in the ring one night would come back to haunt Bruiser.

It would lead to something happening on the small island of Puerto Rico on one hot night in 1988 which became the tragic climax to an astonishing tale and really does meet the podcast’s title of one of Sport’s Strangest Crimes.

Talking to the BBC about the podcast, Adam Hills said: ‘This was a deep dive into a murky crime, made even murkier by the mystery and myth surrounding the outwardly glitzy world of professional wrestling.

‘I hope we managed to tell the story of Bruiser Brody in a way that his alter ego, Frank Goodish, would have liked.’

On the podcast, Adam speaks with wrestlers and industry experts to delve into what really happened on that tragic night and tries to separate the facts from what has become wrestling folklore.

Adam added: ‘I learned that wrestling is a lot like stand-up comedy - you're putting on a show, with a line-up of other talented people with big egos, and sometimes there are backstage disputes. In comedy though, it's very rare to be body-slammed.'

The podcast came out earlier this month and all eight episodes are now available on BBC Sounds.